Elected leadership at Erie Town Hall may look a lot different on April 1 than it does today, with two new contenders ready to vie for the mayor's seat and no fewer than seven candidates — including at least two incumbents — slated to run for five open trustee seats.

Another eight residents have pulled candidate packets and could join the fray as well, according to the Erie town clerk, though they have yet to declare their candidacies.

"I think there is a good field running," said Mayor Pro Tem Ronda Grassi, who is running for mayor of Erie.

Grassi will face former Trustee Tina Harris in the race for the middle seat on the dais, which has a two-year term. Mayor Joe Wilson hasn't pulled a petition to gather signatures to run, the clerk's office said, and he didn't respond to several messages left Thursday regarding his electoral intentions.

Trustee Mark Gruber also didn't respond to the question of whether he would run for mayor or defend his seat.

Candidates have until 5 p.m. Feb 28 to submit petitions with 10 valid voter signatures to get on the April 1 ballot. The town will mail ballots to voters starting March 10.

"We've seen a lot of great things start to happen in Erie and I want to see them through," said Grassi, who was first elected to the board in 2010. "We're on the cusp of major changes here."

One of the biggest changes of the April election could be to the stability of the Board of Trustees, which for the better part of a year has been punctuated by bitter dissension and division.

Two trustees resigned in the fall, the mayor was investigated for an alleged ethics breach and ultimately cleared, and two trustees — Gruber and Janice Moore — were censured for their role in the mayoral probe.

Board meetings often have been marked by harsh exchanges and vitriolic commentary. A meeting in early December dealing with the censure motion prompted an emotional Grassi to plead with her colleagues to stop the fighting.

"I want Erie to be in the news for the good things that are happening, not because of personality conflicts on the board," she said Thursday.

Harris, who served as a trustee from 2006 to 2010, said she threw her hat back in the ring largely because the dysfunction of the board had become too much to bear.

"What's bringing me back is the decline of professionalism on the Board of Trustees," she said. "The mayor is the person who sets the tone for the rest of the board."

Harris said her main push would be to bring jobs and shopping opportunities to the town of 21,000 that straddles the Boulder County and Weld County line.

"We need to get some retail development in town and we need to focus on getting primary employers in town to help these retailers," she said. "And we need to ensure that new developments that come here are high quality."

She also cited the importance of building strong lines of communication with the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts to head off potential school crowding as Erie continues to grow.

Harris has been leading the campaign for a new $6.2 million police and courts headquarters building in Erie, the only measure that will appear on the April 1 ballot.

Trustee Fred Mahe, who was appointed to one of two vacant board seats in December, said he's defending his seat because he wants to "lend a hand in helping to keep Erie on track."

That includes attracting more businesses to the largely bedroom community, he said.

"It's not funny when a citizen is cracking a joke that they have to leave town to eat," he said.

Dan Woog, the other new trustee who was appointed to his seat a month before Mahe, said not only would he work on bringing commercial development to Erie, but he would make sure that the town's natural amenities, such as open space and trails, are maintained and expanded upon.

"A lot of people moved here for that reason," he said.

Three trustees will be elected to serve four-year terms, while two trustees will be elected to serve two-year terms. Moore is the only member of the board who is not up for re-election in April.

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